Remember the dried snacks you ate as a child—figs? But they were actually dried radish. Real figs are quite common in daily life, and they are extremely nutritious with significant health benefits.
I. Nutritional Analysis of Figs
1. Figs contain malic acid, citric acid, lipase, protease, hydrolase, etc., which help the human body digest food, stimulate appetite, and have a laxative effect due to their various lipid content.
2. The lipase and hydrolase in figs can lower and break down blood lipids, reducing fat deposition in blood vessels, thereby lowering blood pressure and preventing coronary heart disease.
3. Figs have anti-inflammatory and swelling-reducing properties, and can soothe a sore throat and reduce swelling.
4. The latex of unripe figs contains active ingredients such as psoralen and bergapten, and an aromatic substance, benzaldehyde, can be extracted from the juice of ripe figs. Both have anti-cancer properties, enhance the body's disease resistance, can prevent the occurrence of various cancers, delay the progression of transplanted adenocarcinomas and lymphosarcomas, promote their regression, and are not toxic to normal cells.
II. Suitable Groups for Eating Figs
Generally suitable for all people.
1. Suitable for people with indigestion, poor appetite, high blood lipids, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, arteriosclerosis, cancer, or constipation.
2. Not suitable for patients with fatty liver, cerebrovascular accidents, diarrhea, or normokalemic periodic paralysis. Those with loose stools should not eat them raw.
III. Precautions for Eating Figs
1. Figs should not be eaten in excess.
Figs are sweet and contain a large amount of sugar, including glucose, fructose, and some starch, making them a typical high-sugar food. Therefore, they should not be consumed in excess. Excess sugar that is not used in time will be converted into fat and stored in the body, leading to obesity.
2. People with diarrhea should not eat raw figs.
Raw figs are sweet and have a high water content. Some also have holes at the bottom, making them an ideal medium for bacteria and insects, which is not very hygienic. Furthermore, figs themselves are one of the purgative drugs, and eating them might worsen the symptoms for those with diarrhea.
3. People with allergies should not eat raw figs.
Figs contain a high level of foreign protein, especially freshly picked ones, whose peels have highly corrosive sap that is strongly irritating to even normal people. Those with allergies may experience allergic symptoms upon consumption. Additionally, figs are syconium, and what we eat is not entirely the fruit; the sweet part is actually the floral buds, which contain high levels of pollen and can also cause allergies.
4. People with gastrointestinal ulcers should not eat figs.
Figs have a high content of plant acids, especially unripe green figs, which contain various acids such as citric acid, oxalic acid, fumaric acid, succinic acid, and malonic acid. These are highly irritating to the gastrointestinal tract. For those who already have ulcers, consumption may worsen symptoms, causing excessive secretion of gastric acid and intestinal fluids, leading to gastrointestinal perforation or massive bleeding.